News & Events

Top Tips for a Safe End-Of-Season Celebration

Everybody loves a club function. They’re a great chance to celebrate the club, get together with teammates and build comradery and team morale. Many winter clubs will now be looking forward to their end-of-season event – often the biggest celebration on the club calendar.

Having a game-plan and planning ahead is an important part of hosting a great party, and now is the perfect time for winter clubs to talk strategy.

Why are safe celebrations important?

Having a plan will help to make sure your club celebration is memorable for all of the right reasons!

Often club celebrations appeal to just a small cohort of the club. By putting some simple strategies in place, you can help to make sure that everyone feels safe and included to celebrate their great club.

Setting clear expectations benefits everyone. It helps to support players and officials to stay safe and to celebrate without putting themselves or others at increased risk of injury or illness; it also helps to protect clubs from liability by ensuring there are key procedures for everyone to refer to in the case of an incident.

How do I plan a safe celebration?

At Good Sports, we’re all about acknowledging achievements and we encourage clubs to regularly get together and celebrate their awesome club and community.

Use these quick tips to start planning ahead and help ensure that your next celebration is one that all members and guests can enjoy.

1. Have the conversation: Bring this article along to your next committee meeting and use it as a starting point to initiate a discussion about making your next event even more safe and inclusive. Be sure to talk about the many benefits of holding a safe celebration.

2. Give the team a pep talk: Whether at a club event, or representing the club in the broader community, all club members should be proud to celebrate their team in a respectful way. Give your players a gentle reminder about the club’s values and any policies or guidelines around responsible celebrations.

3. Shout it out: When it comes to celebrations, it’s important that everyone is playing from the same game-plan. Make sure to communicate any new policies that are relevant to members and guests; this might include new drink alternatives or safe transport

4. Learn from past events: Just like in sport, think of each event as a chance to improve the safety of your club’s celebrations. Try looking at events that you’ve held in the past… what strategies worked well? What could you do better next time? Were there any incidents, and could they have been avoided? Maintaining a Bar Incident Register is a great way to keep track of any issues that may arise.

5. Check out our resources: We’ve put together loads of resources to help you encourage members and guests to follow club policy and celebrate the safe way. These are all available in our Safe Celebrations Toolkit.

Your club is worth celebrating, so make sure that you do it in a way that everyone can be proud.

Good Sports is here to help sporting clubs achieve their best, helping to make clubs safer and more family-friendly. Find out more and join the program here.